The Snowball Effect
by itsverity
Summary: On a snow day at Hogwarts, Hermione decides to follow a trail of footprints in the snow that leads her to something she didn't expect. Dramione. One-shot.


**Just a one-shot I randomly decided to do. Reviews are much appreciated!**

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One Saturday morning, Hermione Granger awoke much earlier than usual. She peered out the window to see that overnight a blanket of snow had fallen, fresh and new. Figuring that she wasn't going to fall back asleep and that none of her friends would be up for at least another hour, Hermione bundled up and headed down to the Great Hall.

There were already a few students milling about. Most of them, like Hermione, were excited about the snow. She grabbed a bagel from the Gryffindor table before following the trail of students outside. Instead of going to the right where small groups of people had begun to form, Hermione decided to turn left where most of the snow remained untouched except for a single trail of footprints.

She munched on her bagel as she walked, crisscrossing her own footprints with the ones that had already been made. The path veered around the side of the castle to a spot looking out at the Forbidden Forest. With the sun rising over the tops of the trees, it was a beautiful sight to behold. Up ahead Hermione could see a small figure, the owner of the footprints, but she couldn't make out who it was. Absent-mindedly she scooped up some snow and began to make a snowball. As she got closer, she realized that the figure was none other than Draco Malfoy. He looked rather content watching the sunrise as he sipped something out of a cup.

Hermione looked down at her hands. Despite her inner voice telling her to turn around and leave, the opportunity was too good to pass up. With all of her might, Hermione lobbed the snowball at Draco, hoping to get a good hit. The snowball hit Draco square in the shoulder, and Hermione must've thrown it harder than she thought because it caused him to spill a little bit of what he had been drinking. He whipped around and squinted his eyes, trying to figure out who had thrown the snowball. Evidently he recognized who she was, because he dropped his cup and began running towards Hermione.

She let out a small squeak of fear and began sprinting in the opposite direction towards a large tree. The hilarity of the situation overcame her and she began to laugh as the cold wind whipped her face. Hermione spared a glance over her shoulder and she stopped giggling when she saw how much ground Draco had gained. Another shriek escaped as she ducked behind the trunk of the tree. She could hear Draco's breathing on the other side. He lunged, trying to go around the trunk of the tree to grab her, but Hermione skirted out of the way. A momentary game of cat and mouse ensued, but neither was able to get the upper hand.

"Come on out, Granger," Draco said mock sweetly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why do I get the feeling that you're lying?"

"You don't trust me? Ouch, that hurts."

Hermione decided to try her luck. "How about a truce?"

"A what?"

"A truce," she explained, leaning her forehead against the trunk of the tree. "We've been fighting for the past five years, how about we call it quits? At least for today?"

For a few moments, Hermione couldn't hear anything but the beating of her own heart. Then:

"Okay. I guess we can do that."

She heard Draco step away from his side of the tree. Slowly she made her way out as well, smiling nervously. Draco stood in front of her, reaching out his hand as if to shake hers. Suddenly, however, he changed directions. Grabbing Hermione's hat off her head, he smashed a snowball down onto her hair. He whooped joyfully as he ran away.

"DRACO MALFOY!" she screeched. "YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

He laughed as he called back over his shoulder. "That's what you get for making me spill my hot chocolate!"

Hermione chased him all around the hillside, but was unable to catch up with him. Every now and again Draco would turn around and wave the hat tauntingly in front of her before sprinting off in another direction. Once he made the mistake of turning around for too long, and with a burst of wild energy, Hermione threw herself at Draco, tackling him around the waist and knocking them both to the ground. She snatched her hat back and smacked Draco with it before shoving it back over her hair.

Draco stood up and brushed the snow off of his coat. "Ow. You're crazy, did you know that?" He reached down a hand to help Hermione up.

She shrugged. "It's been said before."

Draco's mouth curved into a crooked half smile. Both of their faces were tinted pink from running and from the cold. Hermione felt all of a sudden awkward and she took a step back from Draco.

"Well, that was fun. I guess I'll go back to the castle now…" Hermione turned to leave.

"Wait."

Something in that one syllable word made her hesitate. Hermione turned back and suddenly his lips were on hers, warm despite the cold around them. She inhaled sharply, surprised, but not at all displeased. He tasted sweet, the flavor of hot chocolate still lingered.

They broke apart, both temporarily at a loss for words. Hermione let her hands, which had come to rest on Draco's shoulders, fall back to her sides.

"Erm, sorry… I just… yeah." Draco mumbled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.

"It's alright, I guess."

"We're going to pretend that didn't happen, right?" asked Draco.

"Definitely," Hermione confirmed.

They headed back to the castle side by side in silence, both lost in their own thoughts.

As they reached the massive oak doors, Draco gave Hermione one last smile before heading down the stairs to the dungeons. She turned away from his retreating figure and went into the Great Hall to see if anyone else had gotten up. The rest of the day wore on in a typical Hogwarts fashion, neither Hermione nor Draco showing any signs of what had happened. The only indications of the morning's events were two trails of footprints, intertwined in the snow.

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**If you liked it, let me know. Feel free to give me prompts and I'll do my best to write something for you.  
**


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